I was eating chicken and rice in a restaurant today, and when I went to pay afterward, I realized that I didn’t have an article on tipping in Vietnam. I felt the pull to tip because I come from a country (USA) where tipping is customary.
The biggest takeaway of this article: tipping is not required or customary in Vietnam. If you feel that someone or some people gave you exceptional service, then tip them if you want. Go for it.
If you’re booking a tour on a platform like GetYourGuide or Klook, certain tour descriptions may include the phrase “gratuities not included.” This can be confusing, causing you to feel like tipping is expected or required. It isn’t.
Certain countries are accustomed to giving and receiving tips. Others aren’t at all. You may be traveling with a mixed bunch, where some people like tipping for services and others are against it. In situations like this, you can sneak the person a tip secretly if you want.
Since Vietnam doesn’t have a tipping culture, it’s entirely up to you when and how much you want to tip. And because it’s purely optional, you have a lot of flexibility with when and how much. Below, I’ll briefly go over a few specific situations you’re likely to encounter on a trip to Vietnam that may have you wondering if you should tip or not.
No, I didn’t tip after eating the chicken and rice.
Tipping in Vietnam: The Short Answer
Tipping in Vietnam is purely optional. There is no tipping culture in Vietnam. If you come from a country with a strong tipping culture (like the USA), you may feel like you have to tip in certain situations. If you’re eating in restaurants, taking taxis, interacting with hotel staff, going on tours, getting massages or spa services, you may constantly feel this internal pull of:
- “Are they expecting a tip from me?”
- “Should I be tipping for this?”
- “If I leave without tipping, will they be upset or think I’m cheap?”
- “Ok, I’m going to tip. But how much?”
An important note is that oftentimes, tips are shared between staff members. You may feel compelled to tip your server at dinner, only to see them hand the tip to the manager behind the counter. This is common across industries.
In situations like this, where I’m planning to leave the server a tip, I purposely find a way to give them cash while telling them “it’s for you” and closing their hand on the money. Othertimes, I leave a tip knowing it might be shared among them. In both situations, everyone always seems surprised and happy to receive it.
For me, even after eight years in Vietnam, I still feel the pull to tip from time to time.
Tipping in Vietnam: Example Scenarios
If you’re traveling to Vietnam, you’ll likely be using some or all of these services or encountering some of these scenarios. The advice that follows is purely from my own experience living in Vietnam (mainly in Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City). You don’t have to tip anywhere at all. But if you’re like me and sometimes like giving tips, then what follows is how I handle different situations.
I’ll mention this again, as it’s a common thread with most of these scenarios: if you feel that you received exceptional service in anything, then feel free to tip.
💰 How much to tip?
This will depend on the reason you’re tipping. In general, anywhere from 20.000 VND to 100.000 VND is a nice tip, with 50.000 VND being a solid in-the-middle tip. If you go on a nice tour, maybe a full day or multi-day, then maybe you’ll want to tip much more. Since tipping is not customary in Vietnam, anything you feel like giving in this range is a nice tip.
🥗 Restaurants and bars
Tipping is not expected. In many places, you’ll order your food from the server, and they or another staff member will deliver it to your table, then that’s it. Oftentimes, there’s minimal interaction. But sometimes I chat with the server or see they’re working hard, doing many additional duties, etc., and I feel compelled to tip them. Like I mentioned above, if you’re targeting one person to tip, try to make sure they understand it’s for them.
There are restaurants and bars that sometimes add a “service charge” to the bill. This is sort of a sneaky way of adding a tip to your bill. You can dispute this if you want, then tip yourself. Or you can dispute it entirely without tipping. Up to you, but be on the lookout. Not many places do this, but it does happen.
🍜 Street food
You don’t need to tip for any street food. You can if you want, but I never have. This includes if you’re grabbing a quick banh mi somewhere, even a small sit-down place inside.
🏨 Hotel staff, bellhops, housekeeping
This is totally up to you. If you’re staying at a hotel for a few days, and you have nice interactions with staff and want to show your appreciation, go ahead and tip. I’ve personally tipped the housekeepers at hotels I’ve stayed at for a few days.
🚕 Taxis and Grab taxis
I don’t tip in taxis. Most of my taxi trips are from using the Grab app (the ride-hailing and food delivery app, more on that next). The app tells you the cost upfront. You can still tip if you want, but it’s not at all expected for taxi trips.
🛵 GrabFood delivery
I sometimes tip when using the Grab app to order GrabFood. Your driver will deliver the food on a scooter. Most drivers will hand you the food without getting off the scooter, then drive away. Every now and then, I encounter a driver who genuinely seems happy to be doing their job. They get off the scooter and walk over to me. They’re happy, they’re friendly, etc. I usually end up tipping these people around 50.000 VND ($2 USD).
Also, if it’s raining outside and they’re delivering in ponchos and still happy and friendly, I definitely tip.
When ordering your food in the app, you’ll have the option to add a tip to the order. There are preset amounts, with the highest being 50.000 VND. You can manually tip more, but this should let you know that 50.000 VND is considered a good tip. You can add your credit card to the app and do this all digitally, or you can do everything with cash. This guide covers money in Vietnam, including using ATMs and more.
🛍️ Shopee and Lazada
These are the main online marketplaces for ordering products, similar to Amazon. You can actually order a lot of things on here, even to your hotel. So if you’re looking for something specific, look on Shopee or Lazada. I mainly use Shopee. They both have dedicated apps.
Similar to the Grab app, your driver will deliver your products on a scooter. I’ve ordered a ton of stuff over the years, and some of these guys are better than others. They’ll communicate when they’re coming, send you messages in the app, or call you and ask when you’ll be home. I sometimes tip these guys, too.
💆 Massage and spa services
Since this could be considered more of a personal service, you might feel a desire to tip. It’s optional here, too. Massage costs can be anywhere from 200.000 VND to 400.000 VND+ per hour. There are a lot of different types of massages: foot, body, and different treatments, etc. Masseuse skills can vary wildly. Tipping isn’t required, but if you feel compelled after receiving good service, I’d say this is a good place to tip: 50.000 VND or 100.000 VND is a nice tip.
💇 Getting a haircut
I sometimes tip after getting a haircut, but it’s not expected or required here, either. I have a dedicated barber who sometimes squeezes me into his tight schedule. I pay 150.000 VND for a cut. Sometimes I give him another 50.000 VND. But this is purely optional.
🧺 Laundry services
I use a laundry service in Vietnam because it’s convenient and affordable. Many places charge 20.000 VND per kilogram. When you’re traveling, you’ll find a lot of different laundry services around Vietnam. Most of the major tourist hotspots have several laundry places locally. They’ll wash, dry, fold, and put them into a bag. Many places even offer pick up and delivery. I personally always tip these workers extra.
🎆 Lunar New Year (Tet)
During the Lunar New Year in Vietnam, many restaurants and establishments raise their prices or add extra fees or service charges to their price list. This is common everywhere in Vietnam. So expect this if you visit Vietnam during Tet. Much of this revolves around Vietnamese lucky money.
🏞️ Tours and tour guides
Tipping isn’t required here, but this is one of those situations where receiving exceptional service could warrant a nice tip. Much of the quality of a tour can depend on the personality of the specific provider. There are tours with guides who are cheerful, friendly, knowledgeable, and who speak great English. Go ahead and tip if you want.
There’s a company in Hoi An that provides bicycle tours into the rice fields. Here is their website. For something like this, I would tip my guide.
In Hanoi, I met a volunteer tour guide whose company gives free tours in exchange for practicing their English. I would 100% tip them. Here is their website.
Personally, if I went on a scooter tour like this one or a 12-hour Ninh Binh tour like this one, I would tip at the end if the experience was good. If I took a Ha Long Bay day cruise like this one, which includes several staff members, I’d be OK tipping whoever provided me the best direct service, even if it was a few people.
📸 Other tours
There are certain tours, like the boat tours in Ninh Binh, where the guide is only rowing the boat, not providing much of a “typical” tour. But what they are doing is very physical. In cases like this, I would strongly consider tipping, personally. But that’s just me, because it’s not required.
Here’s a video of this in action. I filmed this in the Tam Coc area of Ninh Binh. The people in the background are on the Tam Coc boat tour. You can see the locals rowing the boats with their legs. I would tip them.
Tipping in Vietnam: Some Final Thoughts
If you ever feel hesitant about tipping in Vietnam, don’t worry about it if you decide not to. Alternatively, you could try tipping someone once to see how they react and what happens. Consider it an experiment. This is also a good way to figure out what a “fair” tip is, and is how I learned. Tip a few people to see their reaction. Adjust accordingly.
You don’t want to insult someone by tipping too small. Remembering that 25.000 VND is around $1 USD, anywhere north of here is a good place to start.
If you’re ever pressured into leaving a tip, I wouldn’t. Some people/service providers may ask for a tip, plead for a tip, tell you they only make money off tips, etc. Personally, I wouldn’t succumb to giving out a tip in this scenario. There are a lot of locals who try to take advantage of tourists in ways like this.
